Cox & Stevens began in 1905 as a yacht design and commercial brokerage in New York City. The original principal partners were Daniel H. Cox, Irving Cox, and marine engineer Colonel Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr.

Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr.

Edwin Augustus Stevens, Jr. was an army officer, marine engineer, and naval architect. He was among the founders of Cox & Stevens in 1905, which became an influential and successful New York design firm....

, son of renowned designer Edwin Augustus Stevens.

Daniel Cox was also in partnership with William Francis Gibbs

William Francis Gibbs

William Francis Gibbs was a renowned naval architect who directed the mass production of cargo ships for the United States during World War II, including the famous Liberty ships, of which 2,751 were built...

. After the company reorganized in 1932, the firm of Gibbs & Cox

Gibbs & Cox

Gibbs & Cox is a U.S. naval architecture firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia....

, Inc., took on the larger commercial work, while Cox & Stevens continued the yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 design and smaller military and commercial projects.

During WWII, the military portion of the firm's work expanded. For a while there were close to 500 designers working on vessels for the two-ocean war that required combat, transport, and supply vessels of many sizes.

Philip Rhodes

Philip Rhodes

Philip Leonard Rhodes was a prolific naval architect of extraordinary range. He was particularly known for the wholesome good looks and sailing qualities of his yacht designs. He designed vessels from 123' motor-sailors to 7' dinghies, from hydrofoil racers to giant motor yachts. His work also...

 joined Cox & Stevens in 1934, and became head naval architect for the firm, after the death of head designer, Bruno Tornroth in 1935. After WWII, in 1947, Cox & Stevens was renamed Philip L. Rhodes Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and continued to do a great deal of commercial and military work. The firm closed in 1974 after Rhodes died.

Notable Cox & Stevens designs

• General Frank M. Coxe
  General Frank M. Coxe (ship)
  The General Frank M. Coxe is a steam ferry which was built for the United States Army to provide transportation services among several military facilities which ring California's San Francisco Bay....
  
   US Army ferry
• General John McE. Hyde
  General John McE. Hyde (ship)
  The General John McE. Hyde was a long ferry boat built for the United States Army in 1921, to provide transportation services among the military facilities in Manila Bay, Philippines....
  
   US Army ferry (formerly Irving T. Bush
  Irving T. Bush
  Irving T. Bush was an American businessman. His father was the wealthy industrialist, oil refinery owner, and yachtsman Rufus T. Bush. As founder of the Bush Terminal Company, Irving T...
  
  's and Marian Spore Bush
  Marian Spore Bush
  Marian Spore Bush left her successful Michigan dental practice for a studio in Greenwich Village, New York City, and became a self-taught painter in the 1920s...
  
  's Coronet)
• USCGC Arbutus
• Mandalay (formerly E. F. Hutton
  Edward Francis Hutton
  Edward Francis Hutton was an American financier and co-founder of E. F. Hutton & Co....
  
  's Hussar)
• Southern Cross 425 foot motor yacht (Howard Hughes)
• Seawanhaka (schooner)
• Virginia (schooner)
• Vamarie (ketch)
• Rhodes 19
  Rhodes 19
  The Rhodes 19 is a sailboat, designed by Philip Rhodes and originally manufactured by O'Day. Currently, the Rhodes 19 is built by Stuart Marine Corp. To date, approximately 3500 of the boats have been built....